Around Town

For a second consecutive week, an Arlington Public Schools alum will be making an appearance on “Jeopardy!”

Lydia Cawley, a 2016 graduate of Washington-Lee High School (now Washington-Liberty High School), will be one of three contestants competing on the trivia show on Thursday night.


Schools

School Board members have tasked Superintendent Francisco Durán and staff to come back in the spring with options for renovations to two aging middle schools.

Whether there will be enough money in the future to fund major upgrades to Thomas Jefferson and Swanson middle schools remains an open question, but Board members said they are committed to finding ways to make improvements.


Schools

The new home of the Arlington Career Center is still on track to be ready for the start of the 2026-27 school year, but the margin of error is getting increasingly narrow.

School Board members are preparing to discuss a staff request to appropriate $670,000 in contingency funds on Thursday, aiming to meet the most recent challenges for the new Grace Hopper Center at 816 S. Walter Reed Drive.


News

A teenage girl suffered significant injuries after being struck by a driver while on her way to school.

The crash happened around 7:15 a.m. this morning (Friday) at the intersection of N. Jefferson Street and 15th Street N., a few blocks from Swanson Middle School, in the Westover area.


News

A middle school student is facing charges after police say he threatened another student with a knife.

Police were dispatched to Swanson Middle School in the Westover area around lunchtime Tuesday for a report of a 14-year-old student making threats. They subsequently seized two knives that had been brought into the school.


News

The speed camera on Lorcom Lane has relocated to another school zone.

The camera installed in January on the 4100 block of Lorcom Lane, near Dorothy Hamm Middle School, has moved to the northbound 1100 block of Patrick Henry Drive near Swanson Middle School in Westover Village.


Schools

Four Arlington schools will be distributing cellphone storage pouches to students this year as part of an effort to restrict mobile phone use on campus.

The pilot program will kick off in mid-September at Wakefield High School, H-B Woodlawn (middle school only), Swanson Middle School and Thomas Jefferson Middle School, APS announced in an email to parents Thursday.


News

Swanson Middle School was put in “secure the school” mode this morning (Friday) due to a threat.

Initial reports suggest the school’s office received a shooting threat via email. Police responded to investigate around 10 a.m. and the security status was lifted about an hour and a half later.


Schools

(Updated at 1 p.m.) Someone phoned in a bomb threat at Swanson Middle School this morning.

The caller claimed that bombs were planted in the middle school, in the Westover area. The school was quickly placed in lockdown, an Arlington Public Schools spokesman confirmed to ARLnow.


Schools

After some Swanson Middle School students reportedly egged customers and employees at The Italian Store, management at the popular Westover grocer discontinued a student special.

Italian Store Director of Operations Mike Tramonte tells ARLnow he is also trying to identify the students who lobbed the eggs, who also allegedly stole the eggs from Walgreens. He says store employees and patrons were struck three days in a row last week and that when he went onto the patio to deter the egging, he was targeted, too.


Schools

Plans from Arlington Public Schools to redraw middle school boundaries have already prompted opposition from some families.

A new petition is circulating that calls on the Arlington School Board to reject the proposal and keep Dorothy Hamm Middle School, one of the affected schools, walkable.


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